AHEAD OF its own deadline [8^th August], the EU has given the green light to Nokia's acquisition of GPS and maps expert, Navteq.

Since Navteq is a US based company, the tie-up was previously approved by US authorities last December. Given that the EU has recently given Dutch firm, Tomtom, the go-ahead to buy the only other major digital map supplier, Tele Atlas, the green light is no big surprise.

Talking of Tele Atlas, this week Google signed a new five-year contract with the company to continue using its digital maps. Most people will naturally think the main benefit will be for people using Google Maps.

In fact there is a specific clause in the agreement which covers how Google will use data from Tele Atlas to update phones being built to the Android spec by the Open Handset Alliance.

However, there's more hidden competition between Tele Atlas and Navteq than first might appear. Owners of Tomtom personal navigation devices (PNDs) can upload updates to Tele Atlas.

Given that Nokia's high end handsets also now sport a GPS facility, then Nokia phone users will be helping Navteq keep its data up-to-date.

Nokia has also spotted the chance to blend two big new trends – location based services (LBS) and social networking. To that end it recently acquired a German operation, Plazes, which enables members to plan their social calendar and share their location with friends.

A great irony of the Nokia/Navteq deal is the name of Navteq's current chairman – Christopher Galvin. Readers may remember Galvin as running Motorola until he got the blame for the chaos that is Motorola's handset division. µ